Skeleton structure



July 4, 1944. Prrou 2,353,071

SKELETON STRUCTURE Filed June 19, 1943 2 Sheets-$heet 1 L H I L PL 3 I ]7 i 49 3; 17/. 'T 2 p543 33 "/79 5 i H149 izgg ggaa M ATTORNEY July 4,1944. E, Pnou 2,353,071

SKELETON STRUCTURE Filed June 19, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Izzy/me Fzfoa BY I Xvio Arm/Mfr hut;

Patented July 4, 1944 UNITED STATES-PATENT OFFICE 'SKELETONSTRUCTURE "Eugene Pitou, New York, N. Y., assignorto 'I he Patent Scaffolding Co. Inc., Long Island City, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 19 1943, Serial No. 491,456

6 Claims. (01. 189-1) This invention relates to'skeleton structures for building concrete huts which may be used either by the-forces in the field or for storage. The invention may be also applied to the cone stru'ctionof shelters during air attacks.

The object of the invention is to provide a skeleton structure which may be readily shipped and readily assembled from its component parts.

Such a skeleton structure when assembled may be moved in assembled condition from place to place to act as a form for repeated new applications of concrete to the exterior thereof and when theconcrete is .set may be readily, removed therefrom to again act as a new skeleton form for further concrete shell formations.

The-invention consists of a'plurality of pairs of parabolic ,shaped metal members joincs. at their pmay be disassembled for storage, in which case the elemental parts can .be readily rouped to take up \very little space.

The invention will be more fully described hereinafter, embodiments thereof be shown mime-drawings, and the invention will be finally 7 pointed out "in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

:1 is ;a perspective view of the assembled skeleton :form, which may be made of any longitudinal "length; I

t2 iisiaifront view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 32:15 agplan view of Fi 1; I

Fig. 4 :is a detailed view of the disconnectionmeans by which the assembled form may be disengaged from its supportingmembers or feet;

Fig. 5 is :a plan view partly in section taken on line 5-5offi g.4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view ,of the hut which has been built .around the form shown in Fig. 1 with the skeleton form itself removed therefrom Fig. 8 is a detailed section taken on line 88 of Fig. 3; and v v Fig. 9 is a vertical longitudinal section of another form of hut substantially like that shown in Fig. 6 but in which the uppermost part is provided with a conduitembedded in the concrete to act as a reinforcing member and also as a protector for electric conductors for illumination purposes.

.Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the various views.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to Figs. 1 and .2, one of the prime objects of the improvement is to assemble a skeleton form from small components each .of which takes up a minimum of shipping or trucking space, and

' each of which may be made by' mass production.

The various components may be readily shipped in their separate state to the place where they are to be assembled, with the further object that the assemblage may bereadily made with.-

out the use of any special tools or special knowledge or skill.

After the assemblage has been ,completed the exterior of the structure as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 may be covered with either a metal sheathing or with reinforced tar paper covering, or the like, or with canvas, or in other cases .by some suitable material Vi hich does not permit any sagging between the ribsof the completed form. The use of tar paper and certain flexible meshes can be applied to form curved portions between the ribs after which concrete is applied-so that a section as taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 6 and as shown in Fig. '7 provides a hut, the walls of which resemble corrugations. While these corrugations add strength to the hut, in such a case where it is'desirable to have'both the inner and outer walls, or one of them, uncorrugated or provided with a flat surface, this may be done as shown in Figure 9. Also a pipe or conduit concrete is applied and sets. An outlet such and with a front closure member applied to the horizontal section taken on line 1-1 as shown in Fig. 9 enables the electric conductors tobe attached to a-bulb socket.

After such sheathing has been applied to the exterior of the members forming the skeleton form as shown in Fig. 1, concrete is applied and allowed to set. Depending upon the use desired to be made of such a concrete shell, the depth of the concrete is determined. For localities requiring little wind resistance. or heat impedance,

or the like.

protection against an air attack the concrete wall is made thicker, and this may also be reinforced by a series of intervening sheet metal coverings so as to resist fragments from shells After the concrete has been applied the hut forms a complete housing such as shown in Fig. 6, and its front or rear or both, may be provided with a louvre III for ventilating purposes, a door window l2, etc. L

In order to complete sucha but as shown in Fig. 6, the man in charge of the installation first selects the portion of the ground which may be readily flattened, then provides two shallow parallel ditches l5 cut into the ground and then fills these ditches with concrete, cement or the like. The upper surface of the configuration shown in Figs. 1 and 2 has a fiat surface l8 which merges into an inclined surface l1 and this merges into a shoulder l8, which in turn merges into a flat surface l9 of substantially the same horizontal levelas the surface i6. The inclination of the surface I1 is an important feature here, in that it is selected with such an angle that it acts to resist any strains resulting fromthe weight of. the form whenit is completed. Preferably this angle is 45 to the horizontal and 90 to the stress line of the members. With the parallel sills completed and of such a length as may be desired, a plurality 'of rib members generally indicated by 25, are placed in position in planular relationship to each other. Each of these rib members may be assembled separately on the ground and then raised in position, or they may be first partially assembled directly in position and further assemblage completed while in position. Each of the rib members consists of two primary members 28 and 21, which in turn consist of a metal tube 28, the exterior of which is parabolic in shape so that two in mirror-reverse members 28-form substantially a parabola. This configuration is selected since it is resistant to the forces of any weight applied to the exterior such as a heavier concrete. Each of the rib the member 31 there is welded a plate 39 which extends beyond the member 31 and alongside the member 28 and this plate with another plate of exactly the same conformation and secured in the same manner by welding to the other side of the tubular member 31, acts as a sheath for the entrance of the lower ends of the tubular members 28 and. and their securing members 33. Preferably the lower end of this plate 39 may also be welded to the other of the bifurcated members, namely 38. Both of these plates have holes or openings which are in registration with the holes or openings 34 of the members 33 when the parts are properly assembled, and bolts 48 are provided which pass through the openings of the plates and the openings of the members 33. When the nuts of these bolts 40 are properly turned so as to secure the bolts, the lower ends of the tubular members 28 and 29 are securely fastened to the foot member 35 as shown more in detail in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 4 there is shown in dotted linesthe lower end of the tubular members'28 and 29 corresponding to the position of the same when the bolts have been removed and these lower ends of the tubular members 28 and 29 have been disengaged from the sheath formed by the two plates 39.

It will be noted that while reference has been made to the parallelism of the inclined end surfaces of the respective parts, that these are not truly parallel, but provide a tolerance of about 3 so as to facilitate the assemblage and disassem-- blage of the footmember 35 to the rib members. When the rib members 26 and 21 have thus been assembled to their foot members 35 and these foot extensions properly placed upon the inclined surface H of the sills I5, the upper free ends of these ribs 26 and 21 are spaced from each other by a shoulder 42 of a metallic plate having extensions 43 shown in Fig. 8. The portion 42 spaces the free ends of the parabolic members 28 and the extensions 43 are secured to the free ends members 28 and 21 has a straight-line tube or rod 29, one end of which is secured at the upper part of the member 28 at 30 and the other end of which has an inclined cut-off as shown in 3| in Fig. 4 and substantially in a vertical plane with a similar inclined cut-off 32 at the end of the parabolic member 28. The two .free ends of the tube 28 and the tube 29 are joined together by vertically disposed tubular members 33, the free ends of which are suitably welded or otherwise secured to the members 28 and 29.

These tubular members 33 are provided with holes or openings 34 for the passage of shanks of bolts.

An extension foot 35 is formed at the juncture clined surfaces 32 and 31a and 3| and 38a, regisof two tubular members providing a bifurcation ter with each other when the extension foot 35 is 'alignedwith the tubular members 28 and 29. These inclined surfaces 32 and 3| are in a'plane which is inclined to' each axis of the members 28 and 2 9, the. member 28 being the outer member of semi-parabolic-shape and the member 29 being the inner member, acting as a chord to the outer member.

of the parabolic members 28 by means of fastening devices 44. These members 43 may be single members, that is, having a width substantially the diameter of the tubular members forming the parabolic members 28, or can be arranged in a plate which extends a considerable length along the top of the form. When so extended, the various other rib members 25 are spaced from the first member as shown in Fig. '1, and thereby the rib members form a skeleton frame of any length. Thefastening device 44 is a clamp of known construction and by the operation of the thumb screw 44a the spacer member 42 and the extensions 43 are fastened to the ends of the rib members 25. I

Preferably also the rib members 25 are joined together by transversely lined tubes or rods 41, the ends of which are secured to an intermediate member 48 connecting the two members 28 and 29 together preferably by welding the ends of the intermediate member 48 to the inner surfaces of the tubular members 28 and 29.v A clamping member 49 is then used to secure the free ends of the tube or rod 41 to the intermediate member 48. Preferably also a longitudinally disposed tube or rod 50 is placed along the lowermost'surface ton form. While the longitudinal members 58 At. the upper lateral-edge portion of I. and 5.2 are shown somewhat spaced above the transverse members 41, these members 50 and desiredl Having thus set up and assembled the various component parts as described with the foot memhers I! placed in proper position on the sills,

the rib members 25 are then covered, as before stated with either canvas, tar paper, expanded metal, sheet metal, corrugated metal or the like, and ,thereupon the cement or concrete is applied to the exterior of this covering member and allowed to set. The weightof this concrete is such that it somewhat bends the covering member inwardly, and when the concrete sets it forms a corrugated appearance as shown in Figs. V

6 and 7.

When it is desired to disassemble the skeleton form' from the set concrete, itis done by disassembling all the clamps and thereby restoring the component elements to their elemental or separate state, and such would be the case if only one hut would be built. In encampments, a large number of huts of this kind are erected.

It is then desirable to usethe skeleton form for,

. ment of the bolts ti) and then the vertically movable frame of the truck may be carefully lowered whereby the entire skeleton frame can be lowered away from the concrete shell.

In the foregoing description in connection with Figs. 1 and 2, a concrete sill has been de-- scribed. In place of such a concrete sill, a metallic sill may be provided, and in such a case these metallic sills are made of pressed steel and of a'conflguration conforming substantially to the outef configuration of the cementsills and these plates are made of any suitable lengths. They are nestable for shipping. In Fig. 4, the concrete sill has been replaced by such a pressed steel sill in which the two outer legs 60 and BI are pressed into the ground and the inclined surface 63 is so arranged as to provide the necessary frictional resistance to the end of the foot extension 35. It presents an angle of about 90 to the line of stress and the surface is about 45 to the horizontal. Preferably posts 64 are driven into the ground exterior to the leg member 60 and preferably tie rods 65 are secured to the legs of these metallic sill members. At the outer cation.

In Fig. 6 dormer windows "and aventilator II are shown, and may be provided, if desired.

. From the foregoing, it will have been seen that :th e'improved rib-member is so-shaped as to present externally thereof the contour of a pa- 52 can connec'tthe transverse members 41 if nally from each other a suitable distance and each of the rib members consists of the outer tube member of parabolic contour strengthened by a cord member which with the rib member is vertically disengageable from the foot extension members engaging the sill. Transverse and longitudinally aligned bars or tubes held to the rib members orcord members by suitable clamps serve to hold all of the spaced rib members together in one single entity capable of being raised or lowered 'or moved from place to place.

Applicant has pending application Serial Number 493,055, filed July-1, 1943, allowed January 6, 1944, and application Serial Number 493,- 056, filed July 1; 1943, allowed May 22, 1944; both issuing on the same date as this application.

I have described several forms of my invention, but obviously various changes may be made in'the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as set out' in the following claims.

t I claim is:

1. In a built-up re-use skeleton structure for the making of'concrete huts, comprising a plurality ofribv members each comprising a semi parabolic tube, a chord tube connected at its ends with the ends of the parabolic tube, said rib -members being arranged in mirror reverse, 1ongitudinally spaced apart, and horizontal longitudinally arranged tie members each connected with the central part of said chords, and holding the rib members spaced apart, and horizontal transversely arranged tie members connecting the rib members, combined with foot members at the lower ends of the rib members disengageably connecting with said rib members, to permit removal of the rib member structure in its entirety without shifting the foot members.

2. In a built-up re-use skeleton structure for the making of concrete huts, comprising a plurality of rib-members each comprising a semi parabolic tube, a chord tube connected at its ends to the ends of the parabolic tube, said rib members being arranged in mirror reverse, and longitudinally spaced apart, longitudinal tie members connected with the central part of said chords and holding the rib members spaced 'apart, transverse tie members connecting the rib members having a shoulder and spaced extensions and fastening means securing said trans--' verse tie members to the ends of the rib members combined withfoot members at the lower ends of the rib members disengageably connecting with said rib members, to permit removal of the rib memberstructure in its entirety without shifting the foot members. 3. In a skeleton frame member for constructing concrete huts, the combination of a rib memrabola. These rib members are spaced longitudi- II her having two convergent tubes having end surfaces inclined to theaxis of the tubes, and means for securing said tubes together, with a foot member having two divergenttubes with end surfaces inclined to the axis of the tubes, and having Parallel plates acting as a sheath for the reception of the rib member, and means for fastening said sheath plates to the rib member. said inclined ends abutting each other and being substantially vertical. 4. In a skeleton frame member. for constructing concrete huts, the combination of a ribmember having two convergent tubes having end surfaces inclined to the longitudinal axis of the tubes, and cross t u with openings securing said convergent tubes to ether, with a foot memher having two divergent tubeswith end surfaces inclined to the longitudinal axis of the tubes, and having parallel plates with registering bolt openings iorming a sheath tor the reception oi the rib member, and bolts passing through the openings in the plates and in the cross tubes, the inclined end surfaces abutting each other and be ing substantially vertically disposed, whereby upon the removal of the bolts, the rib member can drop by gravity away from the foot member.

5. As an article of manufacture, a rib member having an outer member or -a semi-parabolic shape and an inner chord member having its ends connected with theouter member near its ends, one end of the outer member extending beyond the end of the chord member and both of the other ends oi. the outer member and chord member having end surfaces disposed in the same plane, said plane being inclined to the axis of said outer member and or said chord member,

and a central connecting member connecting the 20 median parts of chord member.

8. As an article of manufacture, a pair of rib members each composed of a semi-parabolic outer member and an inner chord member, the chord member having its ends connected with the outer member near its ends, one end 01' the outer member extending beyond the endo! the chord member and both of the other endsot the outer'member and of the chord member having ends disposed in the same plane, which plane is inclined to the axis or said outer member and g PITOU.

said outer member with said 

